The evolutionary significance of sickly bitter tastes

CAN'T stand the bitter taste of gin and tonic? Blame your ancestors. One of the first studies of the link between strong tastes and nausea confirms that only bitter tastes - not sweet, salty or umami tastes - commonly induce nausea.

The queasiness might be an adaptation to alert us to the presence of toxins, which are often bitter, says Paul Breslin at the Monell Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

His team asked 63 volunteers to taste intensely bitter sucrose octaacetate. Afterwards, 65 per cent of them felt nauseous. But none felt queasy after tasting an intensely sweet solution, and just one-third felt nauseous after tasting a strong salty or umami solution (Current Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.02.028).

Why 35 per cent of people did not feel nauseous after the bitter taste is unclear, but may show there is no accounting for taste.

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